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Class 442 Wessex Electrics
Twenty-four five-car units built by BREL at Derby in 1988-89 for the newly electrified line from Waterloo to Bournemouth and Weymouth, on the Mark 3 coach's body with a new cab and a gangway at the front. Their motor bogies and traction equipment came from the 4-REP units they replaced. They worked the Weymouth line until 2007, then the Gatwick Express until 2016, and briefly South Western Railway's Portsmouth services before being withdrawn in 2021.
Scale
377 ft (115 m) over couplers
Class 442 Wessex Electrics · schematic drawing GB Trains · gbtrains.uk/stock/442/ · CC BY 4.0
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Liveries 1
The same measured train in each livery, each drawn from a cited source. The drawing above shows the largest fleet’s.
Former liveries 1
Compare with the Class 325 and the Blue Pullman →
- Type
- Electric multiple unit (750 V DC third rail)
- Builder
- British Rail Engineering Limited, Derby
- Built
- 1988-1989
- In service
- 1988–2021
- Formation
- 5 cars: a driving trailer first, a trailer standard, the motor buffet luggage car, a trailer standard with a wheelchair space, a driving trailer standard
- Trains in fleet
- 24
- Top speed
- 100 mph (161 km/h)
- Power
- Third rail, 750 V DC: the traction motors and control gear of the 4-REP units, on the middle car · how it works
- Bogies
- BREL T4 trailer bogies with third-rail shoe gear (Class 442); BREL T4 trailer bogies without shoe gear (Class 442 driving trailer first); the 4-REP's motor bogies, reused under the Class 442's motor cars
- Train length
- 377 ft (115.00 m)
- Car height
- 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
- Car width
- 9 ft 0 in (2.74 m)
- Profile
- main-line
- Status
- Withdrawn: the last ran with South Western Railway in 2020-21; most have since been scrapped.
unverified Some of these figures haven’t yet been checked against an official source or a published history. What’s in doubt ↓
Car types
| Code | Car | Length | Doors per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| DTF | Driving trailer first (EE160) | 75 ft 6 in23.00 m | |
| TSA | Trailer standard (EH288) | 75 ft 6 in23.00 m | |
| MBLS | Motor buffet luggage standard (ED265) | 75 ft 6 in23.00 m | |
| TSB | Trailer standard with wheelchair space (EH289) | 75 ft 6 in23.00 m | |
| DTS | Driving trailer standard (EE273) | 75 ft 6 in23.00 m |
Sources
How we source figures → · Spotted a mistake? Tell us → (opens in a new tab)
Show the 10 sources from Wikimedia Commons, British Railways Board, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Department, Southern Railway EMU Group
- Vehicle Diagram Book No. 210 for Electric Multiple Units (including A.P.T.), with the Class 318 (EE227, EE228, EC207; October 1986), Class 319 (EE233, EE234, EC209, EH234; January 1988) and Class 321 (EE236, EC210; October 1988) diagrams British Railways Board, Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Department (PDF copy by J. D. Faulkner, 2012, from the book lent by Eddie Knorn; copyright BRB Residuary Ltd), 1986-1988, pp. ED265, EE160, EE273, EH288, EH289 (PDF pp. 126-129, 196-197, 364-367)each car's side elevation and layout, 22,570 over the body ends, 22,150 over headstocks, 23,000 over gangways, 16,000 bogie centres, 3,810 over the roof, 2,740 wide, the 1,040 to the body's foot, seats and compartments
- Gatwick Express 442412 2.JPG (photograph, CC BY 3.0) Wikimedia Commons (Arriva436), 2011-01-29442412 in Gatwick Express colours, the whole unit from a little ahead: the formation, the livery and the cases under the cars.
- Gatwick Express 442402.JPG (photograph, CC BY 3.0) Wikimedia Commons (Arriva436), 2011-01-29442402's trailers and motor car from the side: the car joins, the bands and the motor bogies (far).
- 442 Side Profile.jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (TheJRB), 2012-08-11442424's cab end side on, close: the windscreen's side, the yellow panel, the cab side window, door and front gangway.
- 442423 (77428) Victoira to Gatwick Airport (24246299589).jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Train Photos), 2016-01-19442423's driving car close and abeam at Victoria: the window and band heights, the diagonal, the skirt, a case and the trailer bogie.
- 442418 and 442 number 424 at London Victoria (30903780565).jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Train Photos), 2016-03-31442418 and 442424 coupled at Victoria, level, close and abeam: the cab end (round 3: the cab side window, door, windscreen, yellow, front gangway, lower nose).
- Clapham Junction - SWR 442420 (62956).JPG (photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0) Wikimedia Commons (Geof Sheppard), 2019-08-02442420's motor car 62956 at Clapham Junction in SWR colours, from a little above: the motor bogies' parts and tones (round 3).
- 442 Line Up.jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (TheJRB), 2013-07-31442422 beside 442417 at Gatwick Airport, near side on and close: the cab front checked (round 4).
- Class 442 (5-WES / 5-WEX) units Southern Railway EMU Group (photographs by Colin Duff and others)its captioned bogie photographs show which trailer bogies carry the third-rail shoebeam and pickup shoe (one 'with shoebeam and pickup shoe', the DTC's 'without pickup').
- Inverness to Kyle Branksome33113260388A (16925609175).jpg (photograph, CC BY-SA 2.0) Wikimedia Commons (Richard Szwejkowski), 1988-03-26A new 442 driving car in Network SouthEast colours, level and far: that livery, the cab end and the heights.
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unverified
- Dates, the fleet of 24, the 4-REP equipment, 100 mph (161 km/h), the services and the withdrawal: from memory of the published histories, not yet checked against a cited source
- The bogies: the trailers' traced off one photograph (442423); the motor bogies from an oblique photograph (B442-1) and a far one (442402), their parts' places within about 80 mm; the motor cars' third-rail shoe gear left off (not seen)
- The formation's order of the two trailer standards (EH288 next to the DTF): not confirmed by a photograph
- Heights of the windows, doors and bands from photographs scaled by the windows (the sheets' render is about 2.4% taller than wide)
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